Coatings and drugs, agents, or compounds are utilized in combination with a number of medical devices, and in particular with implantable medical devices such as stents, stent-grafts, surgical meshes, vascular grafts, and the like. Other devices such as vena cava filters and anastomosis devices may also be used with coatings having drugs, agents, or compounds therein. In addition, surgical medical film is often used in surgical settings, such as in patients undergoing abdominal or pelvic laparotomy as an adjunct intended to reduce the incidence, extent, and severity of postoperative adhesions between different tissues and organs and implantable medical devices such as soft tissue support membranes and mesh.
In general, such coatings and films are manufactured utilizing polymeric based materials. The coatings and films are formed using a number of different manufacturing techniques. However, there has been little progress in the manufacture of coatings or films utilizing non-polymeric based materials in a manner that can form the desired coating or film, with desired degradation properties, while maintaining some of the anti-inflammatory, non-inflammatory, and wound healing properties of some of the non-polymeric substances available.
More specifically, oils are occasionally briefly mentioned as being a potential carrier component for the delivery of a therapeutic from a medical device. However, there has been little development with regard to the determination of how to accomplish the provision of a non-polymeric coating containing a therapeutic, or even a non-polymeric coating maintaining its original anti-inflammatory, non-inflammatory, or wound healing properties. Some of these anti-inflammatory, non-inflammatory, and wound healing characteristics can be found in oils containing fatty acids, especially omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish oil. However, there is little known relating to methods for configuring non-polymeric coatings to carry therapeutic agents in a manner that results in a predefined, desired, rate of degradation to provide for the controlled release of the therapeutic agent or the controlled degradation of the coating.